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B.C. (comic strip)
Encyclopedia
B.C. is a daily American
comic strip
created by cartoonist
Johnny Hart
. Set in prehistoric
times, it features a group of cavemen
and anthropomorphic
animals from various geologic eras. B.C. made its newspaper debut on February 17, 1958, and was among the longest-running strips still written and drawn by its original creator when Hart died at his drawing board in Nineveh, New York
on April 7, 2007.
The strip was then produced by Hart's grandsons Mason Mastroianni (head writer and cartoonist) and Mick Mastroianni (writer for both B.C. and Hart's other creation, The Wizard of Id
), and Hart's daughter Perri (letterer and colorist). It is syndicated
by Creators Syndicate
.
, and took to the idea "because they are a combination of simplicity and the origin of ideas." The name for the strip "may have been suggested by my wife, Bobby", Johnny recalls. Hart was born and lived his entire life in Broome County, New York
, and freely donated the use of his characters to the county parks, public transit lines, many community organizations and local sports teams including the logos for Binghamton, New York
's minor league hockey teams, (see Hometown).
Hart describes the title character as similar to himself, playing the "patsy". The other major characters—Peter, Wiley, Clumsy Carp, Curls, and Thor—were patterned after friends and co-workers. The animal characters include dinosaur
s, ant
s and an anteater
, clam
s, a snake
, a turtle
and bird
duo, and an apteryx (presented in the strip as being the sole surviving specimen, and hence self aware of its being doomed to extinction
).
Originally, the strip was firmly set in prehistoric times, with the characters clearly living in an era untouched by modernity. Typical plotlines, for example, include B.C.'s friend Thor (inventor of the wheel and the comb) trying to discover a use for the wheel. Thor was also seen making calendars out of stone every December. Other characters attempt to harness fire or to discover an unexplored territory, like Peter trying to find the "new world" by crossing the ocean on a raft. Animals like the dinosaur think such thoughts as, "There's one consolation to becoming extinct—I'll go down in history as the first one to go down in history." Grog arrived in early 1966, emerging from an iceberg which melted to reveal what Clumsy Carp called a "Prehistoric Man".
B.C., like Hart's Wizard of Id, is a period burlesque with a deliberately broad, non-literal time frame. As time went on the strip began to mine humor from having the characters make explicit references to modern-day current event
s, invention
s, and celebrities
. Increasingly familiar visual devices, like the makeshift "telephone" built into a tree trunk, also started to blur the comic's supposed prehistoric setting and make it rife with intentional anachronism
s. One of the comic's early out-of-context jokes, from June 22, 1967, was this one:
Another early example: near Christmas
time, the apteryx, dressed as Santa Claus
, modified his usual spiel: "I'm an ApterClaus, a wingless toymonger with batteries not included!" Washington Post columnist and comics critic Gene Weingarten
—B.C. suggested that it is set not in the past but in a dystopic, post-apocalyptic future.
, masks sophisticated minimalism with a casually scratchy veneer," according to Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
Dry humor, prose, verse
, slapstick
, irony
, shameless puns
and wordplay, and comedic device
s such as Wiley's Dictionary (where common words are defined humorously with a twist, see Daffynition
) make for some of the mix of material in B.C. Example: "Rock (verb): to cause something or someone to swing or sway, principally by hitting them with it!"—from an early 1967 strip. Or: "Cantaloupe (noun): what the father of the bride asks after seeing the wedding estimate!"
There are running gags relating to the main cast and to a variety of secondary, continuing characters. One such periodic recurring gag has Peter communicating with an unseen penpal on the other side of the ocean, writing a message on a slab of rock that he floats off into the horizon. It is invariably returned the same way, with a sarcastic reply written on the reverse side. These segments use silent or "pantomime" panels (indicating that time has elapsed; night falls and dawn rises) between the set-up and the delayed punch line—typical of Hart's idiosyncratic use of "timing" in B.C.
, anachronistic given the strip's supposed setting and the implications of its title, would become increasingly frequent during Hart's later years. In interviews, Hart referred to his strip as a "ministry" intended to mix religious themes with secular humor. Though other strips such as The Family Circus
and Peanuts
have included Christian themes, B.C. strips were pulled from comics pages on several occasions due to editorial perception of religious favoritism or overt proselytizing. Easter
strips in 1996 and 2001, for example, prompted editorial reaction from a handful of U.S. newspapers, chiefly the Los Angeles Times
and written and oral responses from Jewish and Muslim
groups. The American Jewish Committee termed the Easter 2001 strip, which depicted the last words of Jesus Christ and a menorah transforming into a cross, "religiously offensive" and "shameful." A 2003 strip depicting a character using an outhouse
with a crescent
symbol on the front, slamming the door shut, and declaring, "Is it just me, or does it stink in here?" was interpreted by some as carrying an anti-Islam
message. The Los Angeles Times consequently relegated strips which its editorial staff deemed objectionable to the religion
pages, instead of the regular comics pages.
, and the punchline of the strip refers to Franklin D. Roosevelt
's "Infamy Speech
" which requested from Congress a declaration of war
against Japan. The day's strip was pulled from at least one newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News
. The paper's managing editor said the comic was "a regressive and insensitive statement about one of the worst days in American history."
On July 21, 2009, the strip presented a gag that involved the supposed suggestion of animal abuse. John Hart Studios received angry responses from readers and replaced the strip on their website and issued an apology.
, New York
. A PGA Tour
event, The B.C. Open
, took place every summer in Endicott, New York
through 2005 (the final scheduled B.C. Open in 2006 was disrupted by flooding
, prompting a change of venue to the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in central New York state). Each year Johnny would bring in a group of cartoonists to play in the Pro-Am. Jim Davis
, Mike Peters, Mort Walker
, Paul Szep
, Dik Browne, John Cullen Murphy
, Dean Young
, Stan Drake
, Brant Parker, Lynn Johnston
, and entertainer, Tom Smothers
would put on a free show for the community, drawing and signing autographs for golf and cartooning fans.
The Broome County parks department features Gronk the dinosaur as their mascot and Thor riding a wheel graces every Broome County Transit
bus. In the past, Hart has also left his mark on the logos of the Broome Dusters
and B.C. Icemen
hockey teams.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
created by cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Johnny Hart
Johnny Hart
Johnny Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strip B.C. and co-creator of the strip The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society...
. Set in prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
times, it features a group of cavemen
Caveman
A caveman or troglodyte is a stock character based upon widespread concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans may have looked and behaved...
and anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
animals from various geologic eras. B.C. made its newspaper debut on February 17, 1958, and was among the longest-running strips still written and drawn by its original creator when Hart died at his drawing board in Nineveh, New York
Nineveh, New York
Nineveh is an unincorporated hamlet with about 50 homes on the banks of the Susquehanna River in New York. It is part of the Town of Colesville, Binghamton metropolitan area in eastern Broome county. Nineveh is located on the USGS Afton quadrangle at an elevation of about 960 feet...
on April 7, 2007.
The strip was then produced by Hart's grandsons Mason Mastroianni (head writer and cartoonist) and Mick Mastroianni (writer for both B.C. and Hart's other creation, The Wizard of Id
The Wizard of Id
The Wizard of Id is a daily newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. Beginning in 1964, the strip follows the antics of a large cast of characters in a shabby medieval kingdom called "Id". From time to time, the king refers to his subjects as "Idiots"...
), and Hart's daughter Perri (letterer and colorist). It is syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
by Creators Syndicate
Creators Syndicate
Creators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...
.
Character inspiration
Hart was inspired to draw cavemen (and many other creatures) through the chance suggestion of one of his coworkers at General ElectricGeneral Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, and took to the idea "because they are a combination of simplicity and the origin of ideas." The name for the strip "may have been suggested by my wife, Bobby", Johnny recalls. Hart was born and lived his entire life in Broome County, New York
Broome County, New York
Broome County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 200,600. It was named in honor of John Broome, who was lieutenant governor in 1806 when Broome County was established. Its county seat is Binghamton, which is also its major city. The current...
, and freely donated the use of his characters to the county parks, public transit lines, many community organizations and local sports teams including the logos for Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
's minor league hockey teams, (see Hometown).
Hart describes the title character as similar to himself, playing the "patsy". The other major characters—Peter, Wiley, Clumsy Carp, Curls, and Thor—were patterned after friends and co-workers. The animal characters include dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s, ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s and an anteater
Anteater
Anteaters, also known as antbear, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa...
, clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, a snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
, a turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
and bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
duo, and an apteryx (presented in the strip as being the sole surviving specimen, and hence self aware of its being doomed to extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
).
Human characters
- B.C.: a humble, naive slob and eternal patsy. B.C. occasionally makes nighttime rounds as his alter-ego, "The Midnight Skulker".
- Peter: a self-styled genius and the world's first philosophical failure, founder of the "Prehistoric Pessimists Society" and the "Truth Pedestal", and the discoverer of oil. Peter is patterned after Hart's friend Peter Reuter; the two had been co-workers at General Electric.
- Thor: a self-proclaimed ladies' man; inventor of the wheel and the comb. Thor was patterned after another of Hart's friends from GE, Thornton Kinney.
- The Fat Broad: a bossy cavewoman who enjoys clobbering snakes. A reluctant arbiter of congeniality with an unswerving devotion to the domination of men.
- The Cute Chick: a sex object in a world that had not yet discovered objectivity.
- Wiley: a peg-legged, superstitious, unshaven, woman-fearing, water-hating poet and coach of the local baseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams, not to mention the first bartender. Wiley was patterned after Hart's brother-in-law, Wiley Baxter—who lost his leg in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. - Clumsy Carp: a nerdy, bespectacled ichthyologist and perpetual klutz, clumsy enough to trip over a shadow. Clumsy Carp was patterned after Hart's childhood friend, Jack Caprio.
- Curls: a master of sarcastic wit. Curls was patterned after Hart's friend from high school, Richard (Curly) Boland.
- Grog: pure Id, a caveman's caveman; a primitive, semi-evolved wild man with a one-word vocabulary and enough strength to knock the sun out of the sky using a golf ball.
- The Guru: an unnamed, bearded wise man living like a hermit atop a mountain, whence he dispenses wisdom and sarcasm.
Animals and other non-human characters
- John the Turtle and the Dookie Bird: this prehistoric odd couple are inseparable friends, especially when making their annual trek south for the winter.
- The Adder (The Snake): the put-upon, mortal enemy of the Fat Broad (and her club).
- The Anteater: eats ants with a sticky, elastic tongue and a ZOT! sound. Hart actually drew something of a hybrid—with the long ears of an aardvarkAardvarkThe aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...
and the bushy tail of a giant anteaterGiant AnteaterThe Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is the only species in the genus Myrmecophaga. It is found in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina...
. (This character was the inspiration for Peter the AnteaterAnteaterAnteaters, also known as antbear, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa...
, the University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, IrvineThe University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
teamUC Irvine AnteatersUC Irvine's Athletics program participates in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation...
mascot.) - Maude: an antAntAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
, a nagging wife with a smart-alec son (Johnny) and a quarrelsome, straying husband. - Jake: ant husband of Maude, who is always threatening to run off with Shirley.
- Queen Ida: the queen ant, an unfeeling and abusive dictator. (Queen Ida is based on Hart's wife Bobby, whose given name is Ida. She's featured every year on her birthday, December 3.)
- The Dinosaur: big but not too bright—a sort of brachiosaur with spinal plates like a stegosaurusStegosaurusStegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
. Sometimes called Gronk, which is the only sound he makes. - The Clams: talking clamClamThe word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s with legs, among other appendages. (Clams are also the preferred unit of currency in B.C.) - The Apteryx (kiwiKiwiKiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
): a "wingless bird with hairy feathers," as he invariably introduces himself. - The Turkey: makes his yearly appearance at ThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
time, eluding the mighty hunters. - Oynque: the turkey's porcine partner in crime, rarely seen without his trademark mud puddle.
- Wolf: the newest B.C. character August 24, 2009; a blissfully deviant domestication of PrecambrianPrecambrianThe Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
fur. Man's first friend. - Various incidental ants, including a schoolteacher and her students. There are also several odd inanimate characters, including a talking Daisy and his/her friend, a talking Rock.
Seldom-used or one-shot human characters
Although the strip seldom expands its human cast outside of the established group of characters, there are a few exceptions. It can be assumed that there are other groups or tribes of humans for Wiley's sports teams to compete against, for example, but these are never actually seen. There have been a few exceptions to this, however, with a few additional human characters seen from time to time, even if only once.- Anno Domini, or A.D., introduced during a weeks-long journey by Peter to discover the new world, which he successfully accomplished. His name is arguably a riff on B.C.'s name. He dresses as a caveman very much like the rest of the characters, but has a thick mustache and a stereotypical Italian accent, assuming a bit of a take on Christopher Columbus. He befriends Peter in the "new world".
- Conahonty, a Native American Indian, who also appears in the "new world" storyline, and befriends Peter. He is a friend of A.D.'s, and speaks rather stereotypical broken English. He dresses more like a somewhat stereotyped Indian than a caveman, and at one point even specifically states that he is an American Indian. He and A.D. were not frequently seen after Peter returned from his epic journey. The two are the most oft-appearing non-regular human characters in the history of the strip other than the Guru, due to the strip's tight focus on its core cast of humans.
- Mr. and Mrs. Isoceles and their maid Grenalda, punchline of a joke in which one of the main characters asks to borrow an "Isoceles Triangle". He is subsequently introduced to "Mr. and Mrs. Isoceles and their maid, Grenalda." Mr. and Mrs Isoceles appear to be an older couple that otherwise dress in typical fashion to the rest of the cast, while Grenalda, whom Mrs. Isoceles is glowering at, is dressed as a young French maid. Seen only once.
- Caddy, No official name is given this one-time character. B.C. and Curls are preparing to play a round of golf, and Curls suggests that they make a wager to make the game more interesting. "Loser has to stiff the caddy". The caddy is easily 1-1/2 times the height of either Curls or B.C., and far bulkier in appearance, able to carry an entire bag of golf clubs in each hand.
Setting
The characters live, for the most part, in caves, in what appears to be a barren, mountainous desert by an unidentified sea. Background detail is often limited to a simple horizon line broken up by the occasional silhouettes of a stray volcano or cloud. "Retail stores", "shop counters" and "businesses" are symbolized by a single boulder, labeled (for instance) "Wheel repair", "Advice column", "Psychiatrist", etc.Originally, the strip was firmly set in prehistoric times, with the characters clearly living in an era untouched by modernity. Typical plotlines, for example, include B.C.'s friend Thor (inventor of the wheel and the comb) trying to discover a use for the wheel. Thor was also seen making calendars out of stone every December. Other characters attempt to harness fire or to discover an unexplored territory, like Peter trying to find the "new world" by crossing the ocean on a raft. Animals like the dinosaur think such thoughts as, "There's one consolation to becoming extinct—I'll go down in history as the first one to go down in history." Grog arrived in early 1966, emerging from an iceberg which melted to reveal what Clumsy Carp called a "Prehistoric Man".
B.C., like Hart's Wizard of Id, is a period burlesque with a deliberately broad, non-literal time frame. As time went on the strip began to mine humor from having the characters make explicit references to modern-day current event
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
s, invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
s, and celebrities
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
. Increasingly familiar visual devices, like the makeshift "telephone" built into a tree trunk, also started to blur the comic's supposed prehistoric setting and make it rife with intentional anachronism
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
s. One of the comic's early out-of-context jokes, from June 22, 1967, was this one:
- Peter: "I used to think sun revolved around the earth."
- B.C.: "What does it revolve around?"
- Peter: "The United States!"
Another early example: near Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
time, the apteryx, dressed as Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, modified his usual spiel: "I'm an ApterClaus, a wingless toymonger with batteries not included!" Washington Post columnist and comics critic Gene Weingarten
Gene Weingarten
Gene Weingarten is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist known for both his serious and humorous work...
—B.C. suggested that it is set not in the past but in a dystopic, post-apocalyptic future.
Format and style
B.C. follows a gag-a-day format, featuring (mostly) unrelated jokes from day to day, plus a color Sunday page. Occasionally it will run an extended sequence on a given theme over a week or two. It also follows the convention of Sunday strips with a short, setup/payoff joke in the first two panels, followed by an extended gag. The principal cast is small and varied, with each character imbued with a developed personality. "The art style, like that of Charles Schulz's PeanutsPeanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, masks sophisticated minimalism with a casually scratchy veneer," according to Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
Dry humor, prose, verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
, slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
, irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, shameless puns
Puns
Puns may refer to:*Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui, the Sahrawi political party* Pun, figure of speech* Phoenicians...
and wordplay, and comedic device
Comedic device
A comedic device is used in comedy to write humor in a common structure. They can become so common that they are difficult for writers to use without being perceived as cheesy.-Double entendre:...
s such as Wiley's Dictionary (where common words are defined humorously with a twist, see Daffynition
Daffynition
A daffynition is a pun format involving the reinterpretation of an existing word, on the basis that it sounds like another word . They are similar to transpositional puns, but often much less complex and easier to create.Some daffynitions may be puns...
) make for some of the mix of material in B.C. Example: "Rock (verb): to cause something or someone to swing or sway, principally by hitting them with it!"—from an early 1967 strip. Or: "Cantaloupe (noun): what the father of the bride asks after seeing the wedding estimate!"
There are running gags relating to the main cast and to a variety of secondary, continuing characters. One such periodic recurring gag has Peter communicating with an unseen penpal on the other side of the ocean, writing a message on a slab of rock that he floats off into the horizon. It is invariably returned the same way, with a sarcastic reply written on the reverse side. These segments use silent or "pantomime" panels (indicating that time has elapsed; night falls and dawn rises) between the set-up and the delayed punch line—typical of Hart's idiosyncratic use of "timing" in B.C.
Religious aspect
Late in the run of the strip, and following a renewal of Hart's religious faith in 1984, B.C. increasingly incorporated religious, social, and political commentary, continuing until Hart's death in 2007. References to ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, anachronistic given the strip's supposed setting and the implications of its title, would become increasingly frequent during Hart's later years. In interviews, Hart referred to his strip as a "ministry" intended to mix religious themes with secular humor. Though other strips such as The Family Circus
The Family Circus
The Family Circus is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and currently written, inked, and colored by his son, Jeff Keane. The strip generally uses a single captioned panel with a round border, hence the original name of the series, which was changed following objections from...
and Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
have included Christian themes, B.C. strips were pulled from comics pages on several occasions due to editorial perception of religious favoritism or overt proselytizing. Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
strips in 1996 and 2001, for example, prompted editorial reaction from a handful of U.S. newspapers, chiefly the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and written and oral responses from Jewish and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
groups. The American Jewish Committee termed the Easter 2001 strip, which depicted the last words of Jesus Christ and a menorah transforming into a cross, "religiously offensive" and "shameful." A 2003 strip depicting a character using an outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
with a crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
symbol on the front, slamming the door shut, and declaring, "Is it just me, or does it stink in here?" was interpreted by some as carrying an anti-Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
message. The Los Angeles Times consequently relegated strips which its editorial staff deemed objectionable to the religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
pages, instead of the regular comics pages.
Examples of religious themed strips
Other controversy
The B.C. daily strip from December 7, 2006 attracted criticism for defining infamy as "a word seldom used after Toyota sales topped 2 million." The day was the 65th anniversary of the Japanese military's attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, and the punchline of the strip refers to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's "Infamy Speech
Infamy Speech
The Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941 was delivered at 12:30 p.m. that day to a Joint Session of Congress by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii...
" which requested from Congress a declaration of war
Declaration of war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration is a performative speech act by an authorized party of a national government in order to create a state of war between two or more states.The legality of who is competent to declare war varies...
against Japan. The day's strip was pulled from at least one newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Express-News is the daily newspaper of San Antonio, Texas. It is ranked as the third-largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in Austin, Brownsville, Laredo, and Mexico City...
. The paper's managing editor said the comic was "a regressive and insensitive statement about one of the worst days in American history."
On July 21, 2009, the strip presented a gag that involved the supposed suggestion of animal abuse. John Hart Studios received angry responses from readers and replaced the strip on their website and issued an apology.
B.C. in other media
- The characters were featured in two animatedAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
television specials. B.C.: The First Thanksgiving first aired on NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1973, was directed by Abe LevitowAbe LevitowAbraham "Abe" Levitow was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ....
, and featured the voice talents of Daws ButlerDaws ButlerCharles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
(as B.C. and Clumsy), Don MessickDon MessickDonald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....
as Peter and Thor, Bob Holt as Wiley and Grog, and Joanie SommersJoanie SommersJoanie Sommers , is an American singer and actress with a long career of jazz, standards and popular material and extensive show-business credits...
as Fat Broad and Cute Chick. - B.C.: A Special Christmas was produced in 1981, and starred the comedy team of Bob and RayBob and RayBob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...
as the voices of Peter and Wiley, respectively. - The characters appeared in animated commercials for Monroe shocks in the late 1980s. They were also licensed by Arby'sArby'sArby's is a fast food restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Roark Capital Group owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. It is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. The Arby's menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetizers,...
restaurants in 1981, which issued a collector set of 6 B.C. cartoon character drinking glasses. - B.C. was turned into two video games for the ColecoVisionColecoVisionThe ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
home video game system and the Atari 800 and Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
home computers: B.C.'s Quest for TiresB.C.'s Quest For TiresB.C.'s Quest for Tires is a 1983 video game developed by Sydney Development Corp. and published by Sierra On-Line. It was released for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II, based on the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart...
and B.C. 2: Grog's RevengeB.C. II: Grog's RevengeB.C. II: Grog's Revenge is a 1984 video game by Sierra On-Line for the Commodore 64, ColecoVision, and MSX. It is the sequel to B.C.'s Quest For Tires and is based on B.C., the newspaper comic strip by Johnny Hart.-Gameplay:...
. - Clumsy Carp was present at the 75th anniversary party of the comic strip BlondieBlondie (comic strip)Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...
. - The strip was referred to in an unflattering light in a typically snide joke from an episode of Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
. Stewie GriffinStewie GriffinStewie Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. Once obsessed with world domination and matricide, Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg....
says that he is going to do to his archnemesis what B.C. does to comedy on a daily basis. - Francesco MarciulianoFrancesco MarciulianoFrancesco Marciuliano is the writer of Sally Forth, a widely syndicated comic strip . Marciuliano writes and draws the satiric web comic Medium Large. The strip originally ran from April 2004 to January 2007. After a long hiatus, the site was revamped and new strips began appearing each weekday...
's webcomic Medium LargeMedium LargeMedium Large is a Web comic written and drawn by Francesco Marciuliano, who is also the current writer of Sally Forth. Unlike Sally Forth, Medium Large does not focus on a single cast of characters, though there are some recurring features, most notably the fictitious Teenage Girl President series...
once spoofed B.C. with a strip in which Clumsy notes that "Easter is this Sunday", to which Peter asks whether they're "even pretending to be cavemen anymore".
Hometown
Influences from B.C. are found throughout Johnny Hart's home of Broome CountyBroome County, New York
Broome County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 200,600. It was named in honor of John Broome, who was lieutenant governor in 1806 when Broome County was established. Its county seat is Binghamton, which is also its major city. The current...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. A PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
event, The B.C. Open
B.C. Open
The Dick's Sporting Goods Open is a Champions Tour event. It debuted in July 2007, supplanting the B.C. Open, a now-defunct PGA Tour event, which was held annually from 1971 to 2006. It is sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods....
, took place every summer in Endicott, New York
Endicott, New York
Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,038 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B...
through 2005 (the final scheduled B.C. Open in 2006 was disrupted by flooding
Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006
The Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006 was a significant flood that affected much of the Mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States. The flooding was very widespread, affecting numerous rivers, lakes and communities from upstate New York to North Carolina. It is widely considered to be...
, prompting a change of venue to the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in central New York state). Each year Johnny would bring in a group of cartoonists to play in the Pro-Am. Jim Davis
Jim Davis (cartoonist)
James Robert Davis is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield, which he signs as Jim Davis. He has also worked on other strips: Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, U.S. Acres and a strip about Mr...
, Mike Peters, Mort Walker
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker , popularly known as Mort Walker, is an American comic artist best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954. He has signed Addison to some of his strips.Born in El Dorado, Kansas, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri...
, Paul Szep
Paul Szep
Paul Michael Szep is a celebrated political cartoonist. He was the chief editorial cartoonist at the Boston Globe from 1967–2001 and has been syndicated to hundreds of newspapers worldwide. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice for Editorial Cartooning in 1974 and 1977. Szep also won the prestigious...
, Dik Browne, John Cullen Murphy
John Cullen Murphy
John Cullen Murphy was an American illustrator best known for his three decades of work on the Prince Valiant comic strip....
, Dean Young
Dean Young
Dean Young may refer to:*Dean Young *Dean Young , Australian professional rugby league footballer*Dean Young , scripter for the Blondie comic strip...
, Stan Drake
Stan Drake
Stanley Albert Drake was an American cartoonist best known as the founding artist of the comic strip The Heart of Juliet Jones....
, Brant Parker, Lynn Johnston
Lynn Johnston
Lynn Johnston, CM, OM is a Canadian cartoonist, well known for her comic strip For Better or For Worse, and was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award.-Early life:...
, and entertainer, Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.-Early life:...
would put on a free show for the community, drawing and signing autographs for golf and cartooning fans.
The Broome County parks department features Gronk the dinosaur as their mascot and Thor riding a wheel graces every Broome County Transit
Broome County Transit
Broome County Transit, popularly branded as B.C. Transit, is the public transportation system serving Broome County, New York, which includes the city of Binghamton and surrounding communities....
bus. In the past, Hart has also left his mark on the logos of the Broome Dusters
Broome Dusters
The Broome Dusters were an ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena...
and B.C. Icemen
B.C. Icemen
The B.C. Icemen were an ice hockey team in the United Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.-Team records:The B.C. Icemen were an ice hockey team in the United Hockey League...
hockey teams.
Awards
- Best Humor Strip in America, National Cartoonist Society, 1967
- The Reuben, Cartoonist of the Year, National Cartoonist Society, 1968
- The Yellow Kid Award, Cartoonist of the Year, International Congress of Comics, Lucca, Italy, 1970
- Cartoonist of the Year, France, 1971
- NASA Public Service Award, for outstanding contributions to NASA, 1972
- Best Feature Animation Award, National Cartoonist Society, "B.C. The First Thanksgiving", 1973
- The Golden Spike Award – Best Animated Television Commercial, International Society of Radio and Television Broadcasters, "B.C. ‘A’ We’re the ACTION Corps", 1974
- The Silver Bell Award, Best Animated Television Commercial, Advertising Council, "B.C. Tickets for ACTION", 1974
- "The Sam" Adamson Award, Best International Comic Strip Cartoonist, Swedish Academy of Comic Art, 1976,
- The Elzie Seger Award, Outstanding Contributions to the Art of Cartooning, King Features, 1981
- The Golden Sheaf Award and Special Jury Award, The Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, Canada,"B.C. A Special Christmas", 1982
- Best Newspaper Comic Strip, National Cartoonist Society, 1989
Collections and reprints
(All titles are by Johnny Hart; published by Fawcett Gold Medal unless otherwise noted.)- Hey! B.C. (1959)
- Back to B.C. (1961)
- B.C. Strikes Back (1962)
- Hurray for B.C. (1963)
- The Sunday Best of B.C. (1964) G. P. Putnam's Sons
- What's New, B.C.? (1968)
- B.C. Big Wheel! (1969)
- B.C. Is Alive and Well (1969)
- Take a Bow, B.C. (1970)
- B.C. on the Rocks (1971)
- B.C. Right On (1973)
- B.C. Cave In (1973)
- B.C. One More Time (1973)
- B.C. Dip in Road (1974)
- B.C. It's a Funny World (1974)
- B.C. Life is a Seventy-Five Cent Paperback (1975)
- B.C. Truckin' On Down (1975)
- B.C. Great Zot I'm Beautiful (1977)
- B.C. Color Me Sunday (1977)
- B.C. The Second and Third Letters of the Alphabet Revisited (1977)
- B.C. Loneliness Is Rotting on a Bookrack (1978)
- B.C. Where the Hell Is Heck? (1978)
- B.C. The Sun Goes Up, the Sun Goes Down (1979)
- I, B.C. (1980)
- B.C. A Special Christmas (1981) Firefly Books
- B.C. No Two Sexes Are Alike (1981)
- B.C. A Clam for Your Thoughts (1981)
- B.C. But Theriously, Folkth... (1982)
- B.C. Star Light, Star Bright, First... (1982)
- B.C. Out One Ear and In the Other (1983)
- B.C. I Don't Wanta Hear About It (1984)
- B.C. Life Goes On (1984)
- B.C. A Rag and a Bone and a Yank of Hair (1985)
- B.C. Lover's Leap (1985)
- B.C. Why Me? (1986)
- Here Comes B.C. (1987) Budget Books
- B.C. Rides Again (1988) Andrews McMeel
- Return of B.C. Rides Again (1989) Andrews McMeel
- B.C. (1990) Andrews McMeel
- Johnny Hart's GrowingGold with B.C.: A 50 Year Celebration (2007) Checker Books
- I Did It His Way: A Collection of Classic B.C. Religious Comic Strips (2009) Thomas Nelson
External links
- John Hart Studios – official site for John Hart Studios
- Creators.com: B.C. – official site from Creators Syndicate
- NCS Awards
- Toonopedia entry on B.C.
- B.C. digital collections through Devil's Due Digital